nonist comments

an ode to naked type

whilst sorting through piles most high i had a visitation. the earthly remains of a long forgotten loved one brought before my naked eyes, bones, but made so animated by the rush of memories as to seem a phantasm! i trembled. i gasped. i was about to call out “no!” when hamlet’s well known words came to my lips: angels and ministers of grace defend us! be thou a spirit of health or goblin damn’d, bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell, be thy intents wicked or charitable, thou comest in such a questionable shape that I will speak to thee: I’ll call thee dry transfer lettering! i’ll call thee prestype! i’ll call thee letraset!

yes that’s right. i said it. dry transfer lettering. once covetted, hoarded, beloved, but now in 2005… forgotten. the computer, like digital hemlock, saw to that. when i was in college the computer was still more a tool than the all encompassing toolbox it has become. i was right on the dividing line. could still resist it and turn in hand done design projects. in point of fact though i did use the mac, photoshop, etc, and toted around massive syquest discs, i really didn’t become fluent in “design digitalis” until after i’d graduated and weaseled my way into the workplace. before then one of my most beloved resources was my stack of dry transfer lettering. letraset. c-thru. prestype. chartpak. does anyone even remember them anymore?

evidently letraset introduced dry transfer lettering in 1961 instantly revolutionizing type use. democratizing it. suddenly lettering could be done quickly and easily by anyone. i’ve seen it said that it’s introduction was one of the touchstones for what we all consider a classic period in typography. quote: ” the quick success of dry transfer lettering led to a sense of fun in type face design, creating special effects through distortion and trickery, by cutting or tearing type to produce sci-fi effects, shivering typefaces like Alaska, Arthritis, Narcotic etc . Rules about the relationship between type and image were challenged, conventions about using or not using certain kinds of typefaces were abandoned. Fantastic design break throughs were promoted through the cinema with classics such as the credits for the James Bond series.” i for one loved it. the sheets were printed in such a way that every piece of information on a sheet, including the company logo, the guides, hairlines, and the copyright information were usable, and i used them all. my now beloved macintosh helped doom rub on type after 25 years or so. it’s still out there, used in model building, miniatures, and the like. information on it’s history and it’s ongoing slide into dustbin of design is scarce though.

consider this then a metaphoric pouring out of “a 40 on the ground for my bruthas that ain’t around.” perhaps one day after the nuclear or biological armageddon which surely awaits us has passed, and after we’ve seen to the rebuilding of little things like shelter, medicine, our food supply, etc, dry transfer lettering might once again rise to greater glory? perhaps… but in the meantime, here are a few humble images by way of memorial (click each for full image). cue the bruce banner music…

ode to naked type
(after the first stanza of ode to a naked beauty by pablo neruda)

with burnisher, and squinting
eyes
I celebrate you, my beauty,
restraining my hand
so that the line
surges and follows
your contour,
and you embed yourself in my page,
as in a paul rand, or saul bass:
an ounce of glaser’s class,
or chwast’s music.

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posted by jmorrison on 03/11 | sights & sounds | permalink | send entry

Oh great! How dare you uncover one of my greatest nightmares. I spent a gazillion of Deutschmarks on Letraset - just because there were never enough E’s, R’s or S’s on these bloody sheets! After a while I got pretty good making F’s into E’s and such stuff.

Oh Joy!

posted by orangeguru on 03/14 at 08:57 PM

-
remember typewriters?

posted by jrizzi on 03/15 at 04:16 PM

typewriters? yeah, weren’t they like scsi connected drives, from way back in like 95, that held your suitcases and resolved conflicts between all your printer fonts and screen fonts and stuff? or was it a fontographer plug-in? sounds familiar though!

posted by jmorrison on 03/16 at 08:06 PM

I have heard the call of letraset/chartpack delivered to me in the form of large boxes allas s gift of inconvienience…but not for me…for a great joy…I shall move seldom for hopes of letting this treasure be forever intact and will plunder it riches only out of great creative zeal…

posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04/29 at 04:20 AM

recently i was in a junk shop and came across an enormous box of various transfer lettering. judging by the fonts, “captive”, “primo”, etc. they must have been purchased circa ‘72-ish. i bought them all for $5 (probably about 25+ sheets of various left-overs) since i would probably never find them again. at least not dirt cheap.

once i got them home i started using them to write postcards to friends. something about the sound of the film or waxed paper reminded me of pilfering the discarded sheets, with only Zs, Qs, and Ks remaining, from the waste bin at my parents’ art gallery, to write “naughty” words on the back walls as a child. [think: “fart”, “butt”, etc.]

i found this blog entry while searching for type, and was astonished that someone else has the same passion for this archaic and most irritating form. excellent.

posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 06/20 at 09:14 AM

I have ONE sheet of this Prestype, given to me by an typography undergrad of mine, and I crazily thought I could easily get more to finish the artwork for my show which goes up in TWO WEEKS. Boy was I wrong! What a load of crap is sold in these terrifying scrapbook stores (AGGHHH!)! The ONE sheet I have even has the name of the typeface, which is “Century Condensed.” Amazing!

If anyone knows where to buy Prestype letters, please email me ASAP! HELP! Thank you so much….

Molly that was a very lucky thriftshop find!

posted by Kirsten Rae Simonsen on 08/07 at 04:02 PM

I have a million prestype letter packs. shoot me an email and I’ll make sure you get them

posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 10/07 at 02:38 PM

hi there billy:

please email me!

thanks!

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

posted by kirsten on 10/14 at 08:31 PM

too much of my youth was spent opening the flat files and fondling the letraset. wonder i’m not a designer. but there it is. i’d still take any bits of it i could find and probably cover my walls with it or whatever. i think it’s the act. and those partially used sheets are stunning to look at. don’t know squat about type, but dig it the same.

posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 10/18 at 12:39 AM

Oooh, ooh, ooh—Prestype had slipped from my memory until I read your Ode. I was a Prestype doodler. I tried to put letters on everything. How funny to remember all the shards of letters I had lying around from experimenting. When, do you think, you will ever find a 48 pt. capital “T” on your floor with one one-third of the bar missing. We used to mix them up with rubber stamps and stencil letters, and get goofy, textural phrases to put on postcards and on the wrapping of packages. Now that I think of it, and it being almost Halloween, why didn’t I transfer lots of letters to clear sheets and cut them up and apply to my face and body as part of a costume. This was all during the late 70’s. Uh, yeah, that was long ago.

posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 10/28 at 07:24 AM

I use Prestype letters in my work, check it out:

http://elasticlimit.com/kirstenrae/?page_id=262

posted by Kirsten Rae Simonsen on 12/11 at 11:01 AM

does anyone have sheets left of letter transfers?
i am a college student who is looking to do my senior thesis with pressed type. thank you for any leads.

posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 03/27 at 05:52 AM

i got them home i started using them to write postcards to friends. something about the sound of the film or waxed paper reminded me of pilfering the discarded sheets

posted by Downtown Toronto Condos on 05/19 at 03:57 AM

I am in Shanghai and found many many sheets of Edding transfers: mostly Helvetica and Cooper Black. Anyone ever heard of them? We used them on our latest project; pics soon to be posted at http://elasticlimit.com/kirstenrae

posted by Kirsten Rae Simonsen on 05/19 at 04:09 PM

They are called “Dry Transfer Lettering” you can do a google search using that wording. The Prestype was a brand name. Here is a link with many differnt types of lettering “fonts” and symbols.

http://www.emsdiasum.com/microscopy/products/photographic/graphics.aspx

BTW I use these when I’m etching my own electronic trace boards (when applied to a clean copper surface the etching acid will not eat the covered portion). That may work in verious art related copper projects. GL and have fun.

posted by Mike on 07/05 at 02:27 PM

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